What is Reddit's opinion of Bayco SL-300 8.5 Inch Clamp Light with Aluminum Reflector?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

https://www.amazon.com/Bayco-SL-300-Clamp-Aluminum-Reflector/dp/B007RKKEHA

I got one like this at Lowe’s for about 6.50. I need to try to find something that has a wide opening that’s not so ugly but just haven’t done it yet! It’s worth the ugliness because the light works so well. After a month you’ll be amazed at the difference in health and growth!oh, and just something to watch for; with those stones on your pot, your soil may stay wet for too long for these guys. Don’t water until the soil is completely dry. :)🌱

I've just got three of these in my shop with led flood lights in them, and I reposition them as needed. Works fine for my lathe. https://www.amazon.com/Bayco-SL-300-Clamp-Aluminum-Reflector/dp/B007RKKEHA

For a work light. Look at the middle picture.

https://www.amazon.com/Bayco-SL-300-Clamp-Aluminum-Reflector/dp/B007RKKEHA

I really dislike how people just say to go to the vet and act like just the action of calling the vet and getting an appointment will suspend all problems until the vet is seen.

Yes, please get an appointment as soon as possible with an avian vet. However, you need to provide some supportive care until you can get her there. https://www.amazon.com/Bayco-SL-300-Clamp-Aluminum-Reflector/dp/B007RKKEHA/

This is one of the most basic things a bird owner should have, along with a halogen bulb that is 40-60 watts. Any lamp that you can get close to the cage and have the light directed at her will work, but those lamps are easily put anywhere and aren't that expensive. The bulb must be a halogen bulb, as LED bulbs do not throw heat, which is what we need this lamp to do.

When a bird gets sick, a lot of their internal resources go towards appearing normal so they aren't shunned by their flock for being sick. Unfortunately, that leaves little energy for keeping their body warm, and fighting the sickness. A lamp like this will allow them to put more resources into fixing what's wrong and less into just keeping their body temperature up.

It's best to position the lamp so the bird can get right in front of it on a perch they are comfortable on, but also have room to get out of the direct light if they get too hot. If it cannot perch very well, or prefers the bottom of the cage, put the lamp where they spend their time and make sure the bottom of the cage is clean and put down some paper towels or newspaper so it isn't standing on the bars and so you can monitor the color and consistency of its poop. Always have a space where the bird can escape from the direct heat so it can cool off if it has to.

It's good to keep millet on hand for these times, as it is something almost all birds can eat easily and seem to enjoy. Make sure you have clean water in an easily accessible bowl, making sure the water is pretty shallow. A weak bird cannot pull itself out of the water easily should it fall in, and we want to prevent any chance of drowning.

If your bird is thin, looks as if they haven't been eating or drinking and is extremely lethargic, please try to find an emergency vet that takes birds. If that is not an option, you will need to get some food and water into your bird as soon as possible. It's good to have handfeeding on hand for this, as even a bird not hand raised seems to be willing to take it if they aren't feeling good. If you don't have handfeeding, baby food of a fruity or sweeter veggie flavor will work. I would highly recommend getting some Pedialyte and trying to get your bird to drink some of that as well.

Warm it up until it is warmth throughout but does not burn you when you stick a finger in and swirl it. Warmth is important because it will allow your bird to work on digesting it without having to spend precious calories maintaining body temperature, even if you have a light on it. Using a small spoon, or a sterilized child's medicine syringe (if you are unfamiliar with using a syringe to feed a bird, use a spoon), offer the bird some food. You may have to make the bird open it's mouth to taste it.

Do not manhandle your bird or pry the beak open, but smear a little in the end of its beak, where it will usually attempt to lick it off. Once it has a taste of the easy to eat food, it should start to eat. If it doesn't, or seems to be having trouble, you may need to be a little more proactive in getting the food into your bird. Do not force it down your bird's throat. Once it has some in its beak it should swallow it itself.

If your bird is eating what you offer it, continue feeding it until it stops, don't cut it short. Feel the crop gently to see if you can feel how much food its taken in. Chances are it hasn't eaten very much at all and is just exhausted from the effort. Allow the bird to sleep under the light for ten to twenty minutes, then once again offer it food. Continue this way until your bird either perks up and seems more alert, or until it poops. Once it poops, you can now that its internal organs (at least the digestive tract) are in working order and you can leave some of the soft food in a shallow dish near where it sleeps to see if it will eat on its own. Increase the time between handfeedings to thirty to forty minutes, and then to about an hour between.

Once your bird is eating and more alert, offer it anything it will eat, even if it's just crappy sunflower seeds or french fries. Calories are more important right now that if it's healthy food. Always have a bowl of its normal food in with it to encourage it eating on its own.

It is possible to bring a bird back from what looks like the edge of death doing this, but you must remain calm and keep checking on your bird. I saved a little plumhead I had twice using this when she knocked her water bowl over and was waterless for too long (totally my fault both times, water was put into a different heavier bowl each time, but I should have noticed before it got to be point it did. She is in a different family now, due to not getting along with my amazon, but is doing marvelous).

Always attempt to get the bird to an avian vet first and foremost.

Also try to identify if she threw up or regurgitated. Regurgitation is substantially drier (not completely though if she's been drinking) and will consist of little pieces of food that are not digested. Vomit will appear partially digested, and be wetter.

I apologize if that link appears funny or messy, I'm on mobile and even if I wasn't I'm kinda bad at formating on here.

unfortunately i only have time to make video at night.

Clamp light like this one ?

For the light bulb, how many wattage do i need for a small room (10 feet x 9 feet)?

I think i can buy one cheap diffuser, but i don't know the differences between the one that looks like umbrella, or softbox

If i can only buy one, which 1 is better?

Thanks

>Between 3000K and 4000K, if growing a small tomato bush, which would you go for?

I'm conflicted actually.

Probably the 4000k, and this is the rational: The increased blue light will reduce stretching in plant, at lower light levels.

Why I'm conflicted is I know 3000k works fine, I like the warm light/ find it relaxing, and red spectrum helps with flowering (important in a tomato plant).

Ultimately it might come down to what had more lux or was on sale that day XD !

>is the PAR38 shape all that important

PAR (parabolic aluminized reflector) kind of is important, the reflector bit in particular, as it means there is more light going in the right direction and reaching the plant. Light intensity is more important than exact spectrum.

>could I go for a regular globe shape?

Yeah you could, just put it in a reflector.

Backing up through your post history, adding answers I didn't give before.

Gaboons are easy. Very few problems. They drink tap water, nothing fancy. They'll happily eat f/t rats forever. Typically I use newspaper substrate (too many snakes to get fancy).

Lights? Hardware store clamp light with incandescent bulb for heat. Appliance timer.

Snakes do not need vitamin D, so lighting is for appearance only.

Either a hide or deep substrate will make it happy. In the wild, they hide under leaf litter. The main problem with commercial hides is that they're far too tall; you want something the snake can feel on its back. A cardboard cereal box works well.

(I'm not trying to be deliberately redneck with the habitat suggestions, just pointing out that the snake doesn't care. Prettier is for your benefit, not hers.)

For constipation, warm water soak (30 to 60 minutes or so). Keep it shallow enough that the snake's nostrils are out of the water without it needing to hold its head up. For adult gaboons, I just use the bathtub.

I mentioned gaboons not drinking from water bowls elsewhere.

That tank might actually not be big enough (!) for her full adult size, but you'll have years to worry about it, so no rush. As you've already learned, all terrestrial snakes dislike large moving objects looming directly overhead. Put your head over the other end of the tank and approach from the side. Likewise, when putting the lid on, slide it across (not moving directly toward the snake) rather than dropping it straight down (OMG, I'm going to get crushed!). Gaboons aren't very expressive, but if you doubt this advice, try it on your crotalids and pay attention to their body language.

If you need humidity, one of the best ways to add it is an aquarium air pump feeding an air stone in the bottom of a 500 ml or 1L soda bottle half-full of water. That gets the humidity into the air where it's needed without a lot of liquid water drops that can encourage mold.

The one thing I strongly recommend for all new snakes is a fecal exam. The only snakes I have ever received without internal parasites were from keepers I personally knew who could tell me the date of the last fecal exam and worming.

Although captive snakes don't have contact with the second host required by indirect life cycle parasites (e.g. rodent-transmitted), because of their captivity (they can't walk away from their own feces), they are very prone to overgrowth of direct life cycle parasites.

The Book on the subject is Klingenberg's Understanding Reptile Parasites. (The smaller first edition with the blue/green cover will do fine, too.)

Anyway, any vet can do a fecal exam if you bring them fresh feces. (Preserve in the fridge kept moist with a bit of non-chlorinated water or saline solution (sold for contact lens care) if needed, but the fresher the better.)

Me, I treat new arrivals with 50 mg/kg fenbendazole (Panacur, Safe-guard) 3x at 2 week intervals (just stick it inside a prey item) and then do the fecal exam to see what I missed.

Oh! I've only seen this in rhino vipers, not gaboons, but you might also do a mouth mucus swab. Wild-caught rhino vipers seem very prone to Rhabdias lungworms. Until I learned that, I spent forever trying to clean up their guts when that wasn't where the problem was.

Note that once you get a captive snake truly clean (2 or 3 consecutive clean fecal exams), it will remain clean forever unless you somehow reinfect it. Further fecal exams after that are just to make sure.

If you have a large collection, getting your own microscope and learning to do fecal exams yourself will save you money in the long run, but that's a $500 investment. (I use the Revelation III for $455; you want a binocular eyepiece and a mechanical stage or it'll be too frustrating and you'll give up.) Klingenberg's book explains how to do it.

The other thing I strongly recommend is a scale. One of the simplest and most effective ways to monitor the health of a snake is to weigh it monthly. If the snake is not eating but not losing weight, it's fine to wait. If it's losing weight quickly, something is seriously wrong.